How To Get Approved By Drop Shipping Suppliers

One of the most common fears of starting your own eCommerce business is getting approved by drop shipping suppliers without a sales history. It’s why I spend a lot of time showing you how to do so in Module 4 my Drop Ship Blueprint course. In today’s post, I share some of my top tips for getting approved with the best drop shipping suppliers so that you can start on the path to building a highly-profitable, semi-automated drop ship store!So to put your mind at ease, I’m going to cover the different types of suppliers and which ones you should work with. I’ll also explain how best to approach potential drop shipping suppliers so that you can be approved.

The Tiers of Drop Shipping Suppliers

Not all drop shipping suppliers are created equal! Depending on a few key factors they can fall into one of three tiers: bronze, silver, or gold. When starting out, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to work with gold tier suppliers, but you can still make good money working with silver drop shipping suppliers. As you establish your business and work with more and more suppliers, you’ll gain access to gold drop shipping suppliers.To help you determine the tier of a potential drop shipping supplier, I’ve put together a quick breakdown.

Bronze Drop Ship Suppliers

One of the hallmarks of each tier is the level of exclusivity. If a drop shipping supplier allows anyone who fills out a form to sell for them, then they are likely bronze.These suppliers aren’t brands that want retailers, they are middlemen who make money off of fees they charge you. A few other features of bronze drop shipping suppliers are:

They usually don’t support MAP pricing (Minimum Advertised Price). Leaving you unable to compete and actually make a profit.

They have inconsistent product quality, resulting in higher returns and lower customer satisfaction.

They have bad customer service.

Avoid this tier at all cost. The easiest way to find these bad suppliers are to Google “niche name + supplier”. Aliexpress is a perfect example of a bronze tier drop shipping supplier.

Have quality control on their products resulting in fewer returns and complaints.

There are thousands out there so you’ll be able to find one.

Highly competitive, need to optimize your paid traffic for the best results.

Thankfully there are thousands of silver tiered suppliers out there, so you’ll be able to find some to work with. One thing to note is that you’ll have to optimize your paid traffic to do really well. This could be a learning curve for some people, but that’s another thing you’ll learn in my Drop Ship Blueprint.After a few months of using silver drop shipping suppliers, you can start reaching out to some of the top tiered suppliers.

Gold Drop Ship Suppliers

These are your ideal drop ship suppliers that will make you the most money and reduce your returns due to low quality. One of the things that makes a gold drop shipping supplier gold is they only work with very few retailers. That’s because they are working really hard to create a quality brand and are willing to do a lot more work with their retailers to give the best experience for their customers.With that in mind, they’re very strict with their pricing policies. They will absolutely have MAP pricing and if you break this policy they will stop being your supplier.Gold tier drop shipping suppliers are also going to be vigilant about the quality of their products. They will be quick to respond, replace, and refund. Because they have fewer retailers, you’ll have less competition! The most exciting part of working with a drop shipping supplier in this tier is that they will send you business. Suppliers don’t sell to the public, so when someone calls them, wanting to purchase, your supplier will (or could) sent that customer to you!Here is a recap of what makes a drop shipping supplier gold tiered:

They enforce MAP policies.

High-quality product control for fewer returns.

Less competition due to working with only a handful of retailers.

Best customer service.

Will refer business to their retailers (hopefully you).

What Suppliers Look For:

Gold and Silver suppliers are looking for retailers that can provide a good buyer experience and exceptional customer service. Since you’re representing their brand, they want you to meet the level of their customer service (or better). That way there is a consistent, positive, experience with their brand.When talking to them, you need to be brand focused and present yourself as a professional. Make sure your responses are friendly and timely, giving them a sample of your customer service through every interaction they have with you. This also means that you have to build a website before you pick up the phone. It doesn’t have to be the best website ever, just professional enough that they can imagine their products being sold there. It has to line up with their brand. With your website built, you’re already demonstrating your commitment and abilities. This builds trust and credibility. Your drop shipping suppliers are your partners and they want to work with someone that they can rely on. Here are a few extra tips for getting approved:

Have a professional email address (I.E. [email protected]) from your web domain when contacting these suppliers.

Don’t refer to yourself as a drop shipper, but instead an online retailer.

Think of each drop shipping supplier as a long-term business partner and treat them accordingly.

This is just a quick overview of how to get approved by drop shipping suppliers. In the Drop Ship Blueprint you’ll find every step to building your eCommerce business, including how to get drop shipping suppliers. Have a question? Just ask in the comments and I will be more than happy to answer you.

Anton Kraly

Anton is a the Founder & CEO of Drop Ship Lifestyle - an online coaching program for eCommerce entrepreneurs. He began selling online in 2007 and has built and sold multiple seven-figure businesses while leveraging the power of drop shipping.

Hi, Anton!
Great blog indeed, I have another question.
If using scarcity coupon code with limited time offer countdown timer, is it allowed to have your discounted product price(discounted by the coupon code) lower than MAP, or you need to have your initial price higher in order to reach MAP after the coupon code is applied? Thank you in advance!
Best Regards,
Valeri

Hello Anton..
Thanks for these resourse packed postings, its really been of immense benefits to me. A quick question though, am Iibe in the United kingdom and planning on opening my shopify store, but struggling to decide if to sell into the UK or US market? One other thing is that I don’t know what my chance of getting approved by a US droppshiper would be, due to the tax requirements.
Kindly help shed light on this area for me…
Regards

You’re welcome, Kenny. I’m glad to hear you’re getting value from the Drop Ship Lifestyle blog.
We have many students from the UK who are doing business in the UK and in the US. Both options would work, but my advice would be to get started selling to the UK market.
If you enroll in Drop Ship Lifestyle, you will get access to our Doing Business Abroad course which will show you how to modify our training’s to sell to smaller markets.
Hope that helps!

Anton, have been following you for about 6 months now, I am retiring form the medical field this Thursday, the same day as your seminar. Would love to be there but I am going to my retirement party that night. Are you going to record this? I have been waiting to retire to join your dropshipping life style program and would love to view it as a finale due dilegence. Are you going to record this seminar. Please let me know. I am Sterling Dalby.

Hi Sterling,
Congratulations on the retirement! I will try to record the presentation. If the recording works I will be able to email you a copy, but only if you have register here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/ls/webinar/
Thank you!
Anton

Hey Everyone,
As many of you already know I created Drop Ship Lifestyle after selling a network of eCommerce stores and then trying to find a community of other store owners to network with… What I found was a bunch of scammers who promised newbies they would get rich quick by following their push button systems!
This lead me create a new community along with online training that shares how to build a REAL online business.
I’d love to hear what you think… it’s 10 video training modules designed to help you drop ship profitably… all for free.
Be sure to click here to check it out and send me your feedback ?
If you go through the “What Is Drop Shipping?” mini-course and still have questions just contact me and I will help you out.

Dear Anton:
I will be on day four of your ten day course tomorrow. I am very excited about finishing the ten days. I am extremely motivated in setting up my own e-commerce business with your support. Looking forwards to exciting times.
Scott Kullman